A/N: Warning: major spoiler alert! I wouldn't recommend reading this if you're not caught up with the manga.
Anyway, enjoy the story, and let me know if I should write up original character profiles to explain the characters better.

PROLOGUE

Natsu stared down at her.
The girl he'd taken to join his guild.
The girl who'd followed him around at first, before he actively started asking her to join him on missions.
The girl who he'd been through nearly everything with since he met her.
The girl who made him stronger.
The girl whose future he promised to protect.

The girl he loved.

Dead, at the hands of his own brother.
And this time, it was his Lucy. There was no other Lucy from the past or present to live on for her.

With every one of his own heartbeats, the same words echoed in his head:
She's never coming back.

He felt himself falling into darkness, and he didn't bother stopping it. There was no point now. If Zeref wanted to die, he'd grant his wish.

He would gladly say goodbye to the last part of him that was Natsu, the fire dragon slayer, just to escape this pain.

When you lose someone you love, you lose yourself as well.

CHAPTER 1

"Alice, would you kindly answer my question?"

My eyes left the two squirrels chasing each other outside to land on my batty tutor. She had that sly gleam in her eyes; she full well knew I hadn't been listening to a word she said. The old woman just wanted to watch me squirm.

"Silence is my answer. I didn't believe your question deserved a verbal reply." I improvised swiftly. Knowing this old woman, she'd either think I was being profound and intelligent, or she would catch on and know I was bullshitting.
Either way, she would smile. The only reason she'd pulled me off the streets is because my wit entertained her.

Needless to say, I saw the corners of her mouth pull up.
"So by your silence I'm assuming you haven't bought your history textbooks today?" The teacher played along, rolling her eyes tiredly.
The two scruffy-looking boys either side of me snickered to themselves; they always found it hilarious when the teacher called me out.

"No, my silence is outrage that you thought I'd forget something so important." I lied effortlessly, bringing out the required books.

Of course, if I'd forgotten the books, I could have just quickly run back to the old bat's house to retrieve them. But nooo, those twenty minutes of education I'd miss were just too important.

Okay, that was unfair. I was one of the few lucky ones to have an education, even if it was just an hour a day every day in this dusty shack with two other delinquents. Come to think of it, I'd never even seen a proper school; they must've all been destroyed 50 years ago.

I just wanted to go out and explore the world. I wanted to see all those things I'd read about in the history text books. Granted, the rest of the world was probably as desolate as here in Magnolia, but I just felt… trapped.
There was safety in numbers here. If I left alone, I'd probably die.

But this place was suffocating me.

It hurt to know just how great the world was before the demon E.N.D. was awoken.

"Well I'm sorry for wounding your honour." The teacher replied sarcastically, before a sincere expression overtook her face; the one she uses when she goes into education mode.

"I've taught you a lot about the time before the crisis 50 years ago." She started. I agreed; she was a young adult back then, in a wizard guild no less. She had the best stories of what she and her friends had accomplished; those stories were the reason I showed up to class every day.

"But I feel it necessary to tell you how the demon E.N.D. came to be, from a first-hand perspective." She continued, a steely look of resolve in her eyes.

I gawked at her, barely noticing the gasps of the other students.
She said she had a first-hand perspective. Did that mean…?

"I apologise for not mentioning it before. But yes, I was there 50 years ago. I witnessed it. I witnessed E.N.D.-" she abruptly stopped talking; I could see her resolve breaking as other things such as pain and grief flashed across her face.

I stayed silent, seeing my tutor and mother figure in a completely new light. I'd known her for years, and always assumed she'd been elsewhere when E.N.D. started destroying Earthland. I reckoned that maybe she'd read about it in the news, and fled to a safe area; that was the story most people told.

But she'd seen it all go down. Hell, knowing she'd been in a wizard guild, she probably would've tried to fight the demon as well.
How could she possibly live through something like that? How could she smile after something like that happening before her eyes?
She was strong. So much stronger than she let on.

"It says here that everyone present for E.N.D.'s revival died." Dylan inquired from beside me, pointing at his open textbook, shock evident in his dark brown eyes. I internally facepalmed at his lack of tact.

The teacher stared down at the book and I knew from the way she trembled that she was seconds away from breaking down. I could see her struggling to stay composed.
I felt my eyes becoming watery when I realised what this meant. Did none of the people she mentioned in her stories survive that day?

"What, are you calling her a liar, asshole?" Quentin barked from the other side of me, effectively cutting through the tense atmosphere.
"No, you completely missed the point, numbskull!" Dylan growled back at his rival, his blonde hair turning bright red as he lost control over his colour magic.

"Yeah well you're missing your brain, chameleon!" I could see amusement in Quentin's black eyes as he taunted his fellow student.
"Who're you calling chameleon, you damn hippy!" the two boys were head to head now, creating a human bridge over me.

I rolled my eyes and looked back at the teacher; to my surprise she no longer trembled. The sadness was still in her eyes, however she had adopted a small smile as she watched the two idiots fight.
She seemed to find it fascinating and entertaining when the two of them fought for whatever reason, whereas it just irritated the fuck out of other people.
I was one of those people.

"Knock it off! Some people actually want to learn here." I whined, pouting.
The two boys glanced down at me, before glaring at each other once more and reluctantly sitting back down. It usually took a lot more than that to stop them from fighting, but I had made a very valid point. We all wanted to hear what our teacher had to say.

She cleared her throat as we all waited anxiously.
"Thank you, Alice. But I'm afraid that my story will have to wait until tomorrow. Until then, I want you guys to find sources and write a report on what happened that day. Then we will compare it to my account, and you will learn that these text books-" she picked up Dylan's open book, looking at it with disappointment, "these poor excuses for text books can be grossly inaccurate sometimes."

I could tell she needed more time before going into the story of what happened. If she hadn't even mentioned it in all the years she'd been looking after me, then it was definitely something she would struggle to talk about.

"Well, I'm guessing class is dismissing early today." I said, giving the two boys looks to let them know they should scram.
They thankfully got the message and started packing up their books, saying a brief thank you to the teacher before leaving. She seemed too lost in thought to register them.

I waited until the sounds of yet another pointless argument became faint before standing up to hug the strict, but kind woman who had taken me in all those years ago.

"I had no idea, Levy." I whispered as she stayed still in my arms.

My parents had just died from a disease which wiped out a quarter of the town. Our inability to go beyond Magnolia resulted in a shortage of medicines, resulting in many deaths.

So when I, an 8 year old celestial mage with barely enough magic power to summon a silver key, found myself completely alone in the world, all I could do was wander.
I explored the darkest corners of Magnolia, eating out of bins and avoiding wondering what I would do when I'd finished exploring. It was all I knew how to do at the time.

When I felt lonely, I'd call out my Canis minor spirit named Pablo. When I needed to sleep, I'd call out Lyra to sing me a song. My two silver keys would have been enough company if my magic capacity had been enough to keep them out all the time.
But it wasn't.

One day, when exploring the deserted heart of Magnolia, I came across some old ruins. The thing about these ruins that really stood out to me, though; I got the feeling that this building was targeted specifically. While the surrounding houses were simply demolished, this entire area had been literally burned to the ground.

There were scorch marks all over the place which looked deliberate; it contrasted with the random chaos everywhere else.
the remainder of a rotting flag still stood almost proudly on a pole next to the ruins; I could just about make out a weird bird-like shape on it.

And right in the centre of the ruins, I saw a flash of gold.
Thinking it was money, I rushed up to it, only to stop abruptly when I saw what it really was.

I picked it up delicately, not disappointed in the slightest that it wasn't money. My fingers shook in excitement as I took in every detail of the object, recalling what I'd learnt in that old astrology book I used to have.

It was Aquarius's key. There was no doubt in my mind that I was holding one of the only 12 golden celestial keys in existence.
I mean, yeah, there were questions. Like, why on earth was it here, in these ruins? Was it fate that I, a rare celestial mage, had found it, or was it simply a coincidence?
And then there was the big question; according to my astrology book, this key had been missing for over 40 years, since before E.N.D. awoke. Had it been here this whole time?

But alas, I was young. My excitement outweighed my confusion.

"Open, gate of Aquarius!" I called, waving the key in the air.
Everything went black.

When I came to, it was cold and dark outside. I realised with a start that I had fainted.
Stupid Alice. I should've known I didn't have enough magical power to summon a gold key yet!
I let out a few tears, frustrated at the fact that a new friend was only a call away, but I just wasn't strong enough to do it.

I ended up summoning Pablo for company, petting him as he trembled and let out soft "pun-pun" noises to console me.
I don't know how long I stayed there, sulking on the scorched ruins before she turned up.

"Plue?"
I looked up to see a woman staring disbelievingly at my spirit; her wild blue hair streaked with grey was whipping across her face in the harsh wind.

"His name's Pablo." I said, frowning at the strange woman.
Her line of sight slowly drifted towards me, and I couldn't help but feel confused at the slight flash of disappointment I saw in her expression.

"He's… a spirit of yours?" she asked eventually, gradually becoming more composed.
"No, he's a bug." I deadpanned sarcastically, holding up the key I'd used to summon him.

She smiled at that.

Once she heard of my situation, she simply held out her hand, allowing me to make a choice whether I wanted her help or not.
And I did. I craved human interaction. I missed having someone caring about me.

And as much as I loved exploring, I wanted to leave the rest of Magnolia alone so that I could discover it and all its dark corners later.

So I took her hand.

Since then, the old bat with a deep sadness behind her composed expression has been like a mother to me. She was strict and overprotective and overbearing, but she loved me as a daughter. She introduced me to Dylan and Quentin, my two best friends, and she was supportive of my magic, even though she couldn't really help me with it.

I wondered just what Levy had gone through all those years ago.

A/N: I hope it's immediately obvious why Levy chose to teach those three in particular. I haven't really decided a specific age for them, but I'd say they would be around 15-17 years old.

Also, I don't want to reveal too much, but there will be Fairy Tail characters other than Levy in this, rest assured.

So yeah, I've been thinking about writing this for a while now. Reviews and constructive criticism would be really appreciated!

I'll hopefully be updating my other story "forbidden magic" tomorrow by the way

-usnoozulose